Silvio Berlusconi continued to make payments of thousands of euros to an
alleged call girl even after the announcement that he was at the centre of a
prostitution investigation, new evidence from the scandal shows.

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Bank records show that Alessandra Sorcinelli received a total of 115,000 euros from an account linked to Mr Berlusconi Photo: WIREIMAGE/REUTERS

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Milan prosecutors allege that Mr Berlusconi paid for sex with a 'significant' number of women, including 17-year-old nightclub dancer called RubyPhoto: GETTY

Alessandra Sorcinelli received 10,000 euros from the prime minister's account on January 17 – four days after it emerged publicly that prosecutors in Milan were investigating the prime minister on charges of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of office in trying to cover it up.

The scandal has widened further with reports that police found "some very interesting photographs" of parties held by Mr Berlusconi when they raided apartments in Milan in which he allegedly installed a "harem" of starlets and call girls.

One of his favourites appears to have been Miss Sorcinelli, 26, a striking men's magazine model from Sardinia. Bank records show that she received 13 payments worth a total of 115,000 euros from an account linked to Mr Berlusconi between Jan 11, 2010, and Jan 17, 2011.

The sum represents four times what an Italian primary schoolteacher could hope to earn in a year, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano (The Daily Fact), the newspaper which documented the payments.

The prime minister, 74, is believed to have been informed that he was under investigation in December. Despite that he allegedly went on to pay Miss Sorcinelli 25,000 euros in three payments.

Wiretapped conversations recorded by investigators revealed Miss Sorcinelli and other women asking for large payments of money from Mr Berlusconi's accountant, Giuseppe Spinelli, whose offices prosecutors now want to search.

The showgirl reportedly moved to Los Angeles for three months last year in the hope of furthering her career, saying she hoped to follow the example of other Italian women like Monica Bellucci, the actress, and Elisabetta Canalis, George Clooney's girlfriend. But she struggled to break into American television and returned to Milan.

On Saturday, Mr Berlusconi accused magistrates of illegally spying on him and refused a request by prosecutors that he present himself for questioning.

Opposition MPs insisted that he should resign over the scandal but he said he had no intention of stepping down, keeping up his offensive against magistrates, who he claims are biased and bent on trying to oust him from power.

"I am not running away and I am not resigning," Mr Berlusconi said in a phone call to a meeting of his People of Freedom party. "I am defending myself and reacting to what is truly an attempt to subvert the will of voters."

Milan prosecutors allege that Mr Berlusconi paid for sex with a "significant" number of prostitutes, including a 17-year-old nightclub dancer nicknamed Ruby the Heart Stealer, at parties in his villa near Milan.

Having sex with a prostitute under the age of 18 is an offence in Italy. Mr Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.

Leaked transcripts of phone conversations between more than 20 women who attended the so-called "bunga bunga" sex parties at Mr Berlusconi's residence have been filling Italian newspapers for days, piling pressure on the premier.

But he claimed the wiretaps were part of an illegal political, judicial and media campaign to destroy him, defending his right to privacy and calling the accusations "ridiculous".

"Since the beginning of 2010 all the guests that came to my house in Arcore have been subject to continued phone tapping ... Is it normal in a democracy that the prime minister can be subject to this type of control, to this spying?" he asked, to a chorus of "No" by party members.

Opposition parties say the scale of the allegations has made Mr Berlusconi's position untenable.

"If we must have a government that is concerned about bunga bunga rather than the problems of Italians, then early elections are the solution," said Pierferdinando Casini, the leader of the UDC, a Catholic centrist party.

However, Mr Berlusconi's coalition allies, including the powerful Northern League, are standing by him and surveys show mixed views about the scandal's political fallout.

An Ipsos opinion poll showed that while 79 per cent of Italians thought Mr Berlusconi should explain himself before the prosecutors, 50 per cent of those interviewed did not think the probe would weaken him, and 42 per cent said he would see out his term, which ends in 2013.